Targeting High Harm Places: A Busy and Productive Few Weeks
It’s been an exceptionally busy period for the Targeting High Harm Places Working Group, with full group meetings, multiple sub‑group sessions, and significant progress in shaping our national strategy. We are now firmly on the path to identifying the UK’s High Harm Places and, importantly, doing so in a way that protects the reputation of our town and city centres. So don’t panic – all results will remain anonymous. Our purpose is improvement, not stigma.
How We Will Identify High Harm Places
We are developing a robust, multi‑layered approach to identify three or four matched pairs of locations across the UK. Each pair will be similar in population size, demographic profile, and retail offer – with one location representing high harm and the other low risk.
Because relying solely on data is too problematic, we are combining:
- Reliable national and local datasets
- Local knowledge from practitioners
- Insights from the forthcoming High Harm Places Survey
This blended approach will allow us to define risk more accurately and understand the real‑world conditions shaping retail crime, antisocial behaviour, and violence.
Your Role in the Next Phase
In the coming weeks, you will receive a Town and City Centre Retail Crime Survey. Your views will be essential in helping us understand the problems, themes, and scale of harm in retail environments across the UK, and what measures are in place already to address retail crime in your local area. This is your opportunity to directly shape the picture.
Strengthening Our Team
We are delighted to welcome Phyllis Conefrey, Criminology Graduate from the University of Essex, who joins us as our new Research Assistant. Under the guidance of Professor Jon Bannister, Director at Manchester Policing Academic Centre of Excellence, our pace and precision have accelerated, and we are making rapid progress in developing both the strategy and the practical approach to this major national task: How do we identify high harm locations – and how do we reduce the risk?
New Practical Guides for Partnership Working
To support practitioners across the country, we have produced six practical guides focused on partnership approaches to reducing retail crime:
- Working with your local BCRP – expectations of the different staff roles in retail settings.
- BCRP Technology for people in retail
- BCRP Benefits to Policing and Retail
- Town Centre Layers of Defence
- Importance of Live Data Sharing with BCRPs
- A list of every BCRP and BID in the UK, with a link to their website.
These resources are designed to strengthen collaboration, improve consistency, and support frontline delivery.
Thank You to the High Harm Places Team
A huge thank you to the dedicated members of the High Harm Places Working Group, whose expertise and commitment are driving this work forward:
Professor Jon Bannister, Rich Lane, Carman Ceesay, Joana Santos, Peter Fisher, Matthew John, David McKelvey, Daniel Askew, Rosie Wiggins, Phyllis Conefrey, Graeme Dayer, Simon Ford, Titus Halliwell, Rachel Rowlands, Mohammed Qasi, Aaron Walker, Heidi Laybourn, Christian Denning, Matthew Aylward‑Connor, Scott Ball, Christopher Gunning, and of course Lisa Maslen and John Unsworth, whose leadership has shaped the strategy we are now proudly putting into action.
Sophie Jordan
07411 923224
